The Russian Ministry of Defense has begun recruiting women from prisons and offering them to join the war against Ukraine as assault troops or snipers.
This information was reported by the "Important Stories" publication.
It is noted that Russians are recruiting prisoners from the women's correctional colony No. 2 in the town of Ulyanovka in the Leningrad region.
According to former prisoners, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense visited the colony several times, starting from the autumn of last year. Women were offered a one-year contract, including positions as snipers and assault troops. The training program was supposed to last for two months, and after completing the contract, they were promised amnesty.
The publication reports that between 20 to 50 women agreed, but none of them have been taken from the colony yet.
"One of the women decided to go as a sniper, but after waiting for about three months, she refused: she thought they would take her away quickly, but now she has to sit for less than a year," journalists write.
A source from "Important Stories" tried to dissuade her acquaintances in the colony over the phone, telling the women that they would be used as cannon fodder. The publication emphasized that this is the first known specific case of recruiting imprisoned women.
